I’ve got a piece of work together and created three version for its dissemination – one, a website, two, a plywood-bound proper book and three, a zine-style presentation version, to be sent to those who might have an interest in the work.
Now comes the hard work – getting this work ‘out there’.
During a Magnum Photos session on selling fine art prints, the speakers really hit home the importance of networking. While I’m not hugely interested at present in selling prints, the points being made were relevant for the promotion of work generally.
The message was about being ‘part of the conversation’.
This raises three questions: Whose ‘conversation’ do I want to be part of, where are the conversations happening and how do I join?
I want my work to be seen by those to who might be emotionally moved by it.
Reaching such an audience is inevitably going to involve some hits and more misses.
But my efforts must include basic networking, such as attending photography fairs and seeking out those artists, curators and publishers with interests and experience of family-related/childhood trauma related subjects and putting my work in front of them. I also need to the plunge and submitting my work to carefully selected competitions.
And it is definitely worth sending out the ‘zine version of Other Mothers to publications (such as the British Journal of Photography/Source/Photography/Lens Culture/1,000 Words etc), organisations which deal with mental health and childhood (such as the Wellcome Trust, Young V&A and the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh), galleries, writers/editors on photography, and art-based projects which seek to tell complex stories in immerse ways, such as StoryFutures. The aim here will only to be to raise a smile, perhaps pique curiosity and be held in mind for inclusion in relevant erxhibitions or publication.
But there is also scope for some degree of precision, and this should also include maximising the skills I already have. As a natural talker with experience in radio and television, I would love the opportunity, for example, to speak about the work on relevant podcasts, such as the newly launched BBC podcast, You’re Not My Mum: The Stepmum’s side.
This idea particularly appeals because it would allow me to speak directly to those to whom my work might not only be of interest, but also matter.
Finally, it is worth reminding myself that I have already been networking for the last two years during the MA. I’ve been taught by and studied with an incredibly talented group of people. Many have fields of interest close to my own and as I emerge from the MA it will be vital to keep and seek to develop those relationships in a professional setting.
References:
Magnum Photos Store. (n.d.). The Complete Guide to Selling Fine Art Prints. [online] Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/events/events/the-complete-guide-to-selling-fine-art-prints/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2021].
